where do they stand on the defense of tort law?
RUSTAD: John C. Goldberg wrote an article in the current issue of Vanderbilt Law Review . (55 Vanderbilt Law Review 1501 (2002) titled, “Unloved: Tort in the Modern Legal Academy” that sets out the reasons by tort law is less popular than other common law subjects. Professor Goldberg views our book, In Defense of Tort Law, as a contemporary example of scholarship in the Prosser/Green tradition of “public law in disguise.” My impression is that tort scholars are skeptical of the role of tort law as an instrument of public policy. No empirical study exists about the views of American tort teachers. But tort scholarship seems to be dominated by scholars who believe that tort law is a source of inefficiency and unfairness. Many of the leading casebooks are now authored by professors who are either tort law agnostics or avowed “tort reformers.” Law and economics has become the most influential paradigm in torts scholarship. The conservative branch of law and economics measures efficiency by
